Deck locker for signal flags



Dec. 29, 1964 P. c. VERTREES DECK LOCKER FOR SIGNAL FLAGS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 30, 1963 FIG. I

FIG.2

INVENTOR. PHI/L C. VERTREES BY My ATTOR NEYS Dec. 29, 1964 P. c. VERTREES 3,163,479

DECK LOCKER FOR SIGNAL FLAGS Filed Jan. 50, 1963 V 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG.6

1 1 \1 INVENTOR. 1 PAUL c. VERTREES ATTORNEVS United States Patent 3,163,479 DECK LOCKER FOR IGNAL FLAGS Paul C. Vertrees, Tacoma, Wash, assignor to Tacoma Boathuilding (10., Inc, Tacoma, Wash, a corporation of Washington Filed Jan. 30, 1953, filer. No. 255,020 11 Claims. (Cl. 3l2-234.l)

This invention relates to flag lockers, and namely the open-top boxes which are provided upon naval and other marine vessels as storage bins for signal flags. The signal flags stored in these lockers are provided with grommets at the two extremities of their hoist end. A respective eyed snaphook has its eyed end attached to the upper grommet of each flag, and a respective ring is attached to the lower grommet. In signalling, a signalman raises a string of the flags by means of a halyard, attaching the snap-hook of each following flag in the string to the hook of the preceding flag. For hanging the flags when they are stored in the lockers, lockers as heretofore known commonly provided a row of closely spaced spring-loaded fingers projecting horizontally inwardly from each of the opposite sides of the box on a level adjacent the top opening. When storing the flags, the snaphook and the ring of each flag are accommodated in a respective pair of two adjacent slots which the spaces between the fingers provide. The flags hang from the front edges of the rows of fingers. Name strips identify the pairs of slots.

The object of the present invention is to provide a flag locker having a hanger of improved design and one, more especially, which for any given size of locker will accommodate a maximum number of flags, which gives a more secure grip for the ring and the snaphook than has been heretofore provided, which is substantially proof against liability of a flag becoming fouled in course of its removal from the locker, which permits flags to be stored in or removed from the locker with unusual ease and expedition, and which is inexpensive to produce.

The foregoing together with other objects and advantages of the invention will appear and be understood in the course of the following description and claims, the invention consisting in the novel construction and in the adaptation and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating a flag locker having hanger bars constructed in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, and showing in full and broken lines two signal flags stowed in the locker.

FIG. 2 is an elevational view portraying a typical signal flag of the type for which the locker of the present invention is designed.

FIG. 3 is a transverse vertical sectional view of the hanger bar shown in FIG. 1, drawn to a scale enlarged from that of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary transverse ventical sectional view similar to FIG. 3, with one of the flag-carrying ring members lodged in the stalls which the hanger bars provide.

FIGS. 5 and 6 are transverse vertical sectional views illustrating two other embodiments of a hanger bar, the latter view being drawn on line 66 of FIG. 7 and incorporating a fragmentary broken-line showing of a flagcarrying ring member lodged in a stall of the hanger; and

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary top plan view of the FIG. 6 type of hanger bar, two adjacent said bars being shown together with a pair of the ring members which carry a signal flag. The signal flag is deleted from the view and one of the ring members, namely the ring member having a snap-hook head, is shown in. l mim al section.

Referring to said drawings, the signal flag which I have elected to illustrate, signifying emergency, is denoted by the numeral 20. The flag is here shown as being provided with grommeted eyes 21 at the two extremes of the flags hoist edge. Spliced loops 22 passing through such eyes catch the above-mentioned ring and snaphook, denoted by 23 and 24, respectively, to the flag. The bin which forms the locker for the flags is or may be of wood construction formed to a rectangular plan configuration with corner posts 25 giving support to end walls 26 and side walls 27. The back side wall customarily rises to a height above that of the front side wall, and a removable canvas cover is stretched over coaming strips which cap the walls. Spaced slats elevated above the vessels deck form the floor for the bin. The details of construction of the bin are no part of the present invention and for simplicity in illustration said coarning strips, the canvas cover, and the floor slats are deleted from the drawings.

According to the present invention the previously employed slot-forming fingers are replaced by mounting bars which extend horizontally in spaced parallelism from one to the other end wall 26 of the bin on a level somewhat lower than the front walls coaming strip. Suitable socket means (not shown) carried by said walls 26 receive the opposite ends of the bars in a manner to localize the bars and anchor the same to preclude the bars from turning. The center-to-center spacing of the bars is moderately greater than the outside diameter of the rings 23.

The bars are hollow and as here shown can have either a circular or square cross-section. First describing the round pipeernbodiment of FIGS. 1, 3 and 4, in which the circular pipe is designated by 30, it will be seen that each of the opposite side walls of each pipe is deeply notched to provide pairs of longitudinally spaced vertical slots. A plurality of such pairs of slots are provided at equidistantly spaced intervals of the pipes length, and the two slots 31 and 32 of each such pair have a width one to freely accommodate the ring 23 and the other to freely accommodate the snaphooks eyed end 33. The facing slots of two adjacent pipes complement one another to produce a stall in which the ring or the eyed end of the snaphook, as the case may be, is lodged. The slots each extend inwardly to a greater depth at the top than at the bottom, producing a span for the stalls which at the top is wider and at the bottom is narrower than the diameter of the concerned ring member, and which is to say the ring 23 or the eyed end 33 of the snaphook 24.

A tube 34 of rubber or other like or suitable resilient material, split so as to' provide a gap 35 within its circurn ference, is applied as a liner to the interior of the pipe. This liner is placed so that the gap occurs at the bottom, and is held against relative rotation by application of a strip of adhesive 36 along the top. As can be clearly seen from an inspection of FIG. 4, the ring member 23 or 33, as the case may be, can be pressed downwardly into a related stall in that the rubber of the liner gives rearwardly. Resistance of the rubber to deformation causes the rubber to tightly invest the back and side edges of the lodged ring member. The degree to which the ring mem- 'ber may be pressed into the stall causes the rubber of the liner to overhang the ring members cheek extremity. This precludes'the lodged ring member from being projected upwardly under force of the rubbers elasticity.

In FIG. 5 I have shown a modified arrangement in which an extruded form of liner is substituted for the split tube. The liner is given somewhat of a T shape with its leg 37 occupying a vertical diameter of the pipe and having the top surface of its head portion 38 curved to close- 1y fit the interior wall of the pipe through an arcuate span,

anchored to the pipe, as at 39, and the leg portion 37 is or may also be adhesively anchored, as at 40.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 6 and 7, there is provided a bar of square section fabricated from a bottom channel member 41 capped by a plate 42. Pairs of transverse slots 43 and 44 extend inwardly from each of the opposite sides of the plate at spaced intervals of the width, and registering slots 45 and 46 are provided in each of the upstanding side walls 47 and 48 of the channel member, producing functioning counterparts of the slots 31 and 32.

The cover plate is removably secured to the channel member by a plurality of vertical nutted bolts 50, each located on the longitudinal median line of the bar in the space between an adjacent pair of the slots. A strip 52 of rubber or other suitable resilient material, and functioning in much the same manner as the head portion 38 of the extruded liner portrayed in FIG. 5, underlies plate 42 and is held in place by washers 53. Each bolt supports a respective one of these washers and carries a second nut 54 to exert clamping pressure through the washer upon the rubber strip.

It is thought that the invention will have been clearly understood from the foregoing detailed description of the several embodiments which I have elected to illustrate. The flags when stowed within the locker hang from their related two ring members, namely the ring 23 and the snaphook 24, passing through the interstice between two complementing bars when being introduced to and removed from the locker. The name strips which identify the various stalls are applied to the exposed upper face of the bars on the substantial longitudinal median line thereof.

Changes in the details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention and it is accordingly my intention that no limitations be implied and that the hereto annexed claims be given the broadest interpretation to which the employed language fairly admits.

What I claim is:

1. A deck locker for signal flags of the described character having a respective ring member attached to each of the opposite ends of the flags hoist edge, comprising, in combination with said flags and an open-top box serving as a storage bin for the flags, at least two closely spaced paralleling hanger bars extending between two opposite Walls of said box on approximately a common level elevated above the floor of the box and having the opposing faces each deeply notched at spaced intervals of the length on transverse vertical planes which coincide as between the two bars, said co-planar notches acting in complement to form stalls for said ring members, the stalls having a span at the top greater and a span at the bottom less than the outside diameter of the concerned ring member.

2. A deck locker according to claim 1 having a resilient facing within the notches acting to grip the introduced ring members and yieldingly hold the same against dislodgement.

3. A deck locker according to claim 1 in which the bars are hollow with the depth of the notches greater than the thickness of the wall so that the stalls are exposed to the hollow centers of the bars, the interior wall of said bars being fitted with a liner of resilient material normally occupying at least the upper portion of the stalls and caused to be pressed rearwardly by introduction of the ring members to the stalls.

4. Structure according to claim 3 in which the bar is sectionally of a round configuration.

5. Structure according to claim 3 in which the bar is sectionally of a rectangular configuration.

6. Structure according to claim 3 in which the bar is sectionally of a round configuration, means being provided holding the liner against turning relative to the bar.

7. Structure according to claim 3 in which the bar is sectionally of a round configuration, the liner comprising a split tube positioned so that the split lies at the bottom on the substantial longitudinal median line of the bar.

8. Structure according to claim 3 in Which the bar is sectionally of a round configuration, the liner comprising the head portion of a T-shaped rubber extrusion having the base of the depending leg portion contacting the bottorn wall of the bar.

9. Structure according to claim 3 in which the bar is sectionally of a round configuration, the liner comprising the head portion of a T-shaped rubber extrusion having the base of the depending leg portion contacting the bottom Wall of the bar, said rubber extrusion being adhesively united top and bottom with the bar on substantially the longitudinal median line of the latter.

10. A deck locker for signal flags of the described character having a respective ring member attached to each of the opposite ends of the flags hoist edge, comprising, in combination with said flags and an open-top box serving as a storage bin for the flags, a plurality of spaced paralleling hanger bars extending between two opposite walls of said box on approximately a common level elevated above the floor of the box and having the opposite sides each deeply notched at spaced intervals of the length on transverse vertical planes which coincide as between all of the bars, the notches which occur in opposing faces of two adjacent said bars acting in complement to produce stalls for said ring members, the stalls having a span at the bottom less than the outside diameter of the concerned ring member so as to provide a stop limiting the degree to which the ring members can be pushed downwardly into the stalls, the notches having a vertical span approaching the overall height of the respective bar so that the lower end lies well below the mid-height of the concerned bar.

11. A deck locker according to claim 10 providing a spacing between the notches at one side and those at the other side of each bar sufficiently wide to accommodate a flag-identifying name strip.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 888,855 Sisco May 26, 1908 1,026,268 Kees May 14, 1912 1,799,809 Craft Apr. 7, 1931 2,143,119 Waring Jan. 10, 1939 2,710,694 Carr June 14, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 691,450 Germany May 27, 1940 884,795 Great Britain Dec. 20, 1961 

1. A DECK LOCKER FOR SIGNAL FLAGS OF THE DESCRIBED CHARACTER HAVING A RESPECTIVE RING MEMBER ATTACHED TO EACH OF THE OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE FLAG''S HOIST EDGE, COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION WITH SAID FLAGS AND AN OPEN-TOP BOX SERVING AS A STORAGE BIN FOR THE FLAGS, AT LEAST TWO CLOSELY SPACED PARALLELING HANGER BARS EXTENDING BETWEEN TWO OPPOSITE WALLS OF SAID BOX ON APPROXIMATELY A COMMON LEVEL ELEVATED ABOVE THE FLOOR OF THE BOX AND HAVING THE OPPOSING FACES EACH DEEPLY NOTCHED AT SPACED INTERVALS OF THE LENGTH ON TRANSVERSE VERTICAL PLANES WHICH COINCIDE AS BETWEEN THE TWO BARS, SAID CO-PLANAR NOTCHES ACTING IN COMPLEMENT TO FORM STALLS FOR SAID RING MEMBERS, THE STALLS HAVING A SPAN AT THE TOP GREATER AND A SPAN AT THE BOTTOM LESS THAN THE OUTSIDE DIAMETER OF THE CONCERNED RING MEMBER. 